Privilege

It looks like Brencis has been for a cut and blow
dry. You do know Brencis, don't you, that we
are not supposed to go to the hairdressers for
the next three weeks? I'm pleased I managed to 
get mine cut before lockdown.

It feels a great privilege to be working from home and to have had a long experience of it through all my online studies. I feel sad for those who struggle with it and for those who have lost their jobs in all this chaos. It is so frustrating to see the governments who have tried to save the economy and ended up hurting the economy more by not dealing with the health crisis in the first place. When I see the numbers about debts owed caused by the chaos, I think to who is it owed? What purpose would it serve to pay the debt to them? Who is benefiting from all of this chaos? Would it really hurt to redistribute the money to those who need it? Think that sounds communistic? How about a year of Jubilee being declared? A great resetting of debts. A fresh start? That my friends is very biblical!

There are three cats there! Really! We knew that
once it started to get cold Eyre would suddenly
find that her new companions were worth getting
to know

The snow has been coming and going this week.
Not as cold as last week but still a bit chilly.

Along with the privilege of a job I can do from home, I'm also privileged with a more up-market scam email. Hahaha! This is a sample of one I received this week and I get quite a few from these and some from predatory journals as they are called. 

Dear Professor., <=== Whoops! Not yet kind sir!

Hope you are safe and healthy! <==== I am indeed, thank you for asking! 

We are in the process of appointing a Speaker for the Power and Energy engineering conference as Speaker which is going to be held in Barcelona, Spain during July 12-14, 2021. <=== Oooh! Lovely, I enjoyed my trip to Spain last year, unfortunately it does clash with haycutting season, which as you can appreciate is an important part of my year.

Considering your profile, and based on your excellent continuous research in the arena of Energy engineering we would like to take the privilege to enquire if you can join as a Speaker for Energy Engineering-2021. <==== Errr! And which ones would those be? I don't recall my papers being in the field of Energy Engineering, perhaps I write them in my sleep? Now that would be cool

 I would be grateful if you can accept our invitation and take up the position. <====Somehow I think not, at least not until you do your own proper research.

At least they can be flatteringly amusing. 

Cleaning up crew

Hmmm! I think there's an imposter in there

One of the privileges I would rather do without at the moment is having computer issues. A first world problem for sure. I mentioned that Ian's computer went pop the other week! He's managing on the old PC he was lent, but that has been temperamental. He thought that had finally gone too one night when it switched itself off. It was a relief that it was the same night I had a new computer delivered. Everything would be fine, or so I thought. The computer was fine, I got it set up and upgraded no problem. I was settling in well with it and then disaster struck. I went to close it and hadn't notice a usb stick was in the way. I realised that something was stopping it from shutting, I was a bit surprised to see the usb stick, so I moved it out of the way, then closed the computer and I thought no more about it. 

I said there was an imposter in the chicken ark. That
will teach you to be greedy and try to pinch the 
chicken food. Apparently the chickens ganged up
on poor Ginger Tom. A quick lesson in not messing
with the chickens and trying to muscle in on their
food

Help! Get me out of here!

Thos fine lines from the corner I 
assume are cracks but somehow it
has also influenced the rest of the 
screen. Sigh!

When I opened it up later, the screen was not how it should be and it looked like there was some fine cracks in the corner. I was gutted! I tried to feel the cracks but I couldn't. I couldn't understand what the problem was. It wasn't powering up properly. Eventually it worked but the screen was still a mess. How could that be? It was only a usb stick and it wasn't as if I was rough with it. Ian gave me my old computer back and he went back to the PC. I had cleared a load of stuff off my computer so there was more space for his files and photos, so all of my stuff was now on the new one. All is not lost as it is backed up, but such a faff. I really felt I didn't want to adult at this stage. 

I think we might just get a white Christmas. 

Eyre is such a grumpy looking cat, but I know 
how she feels at the moment. I have to remind
myself, it is just a computer.

"To adult" such a strange newfangled phrase that some of my grammar inclined friends will probably not like. Somehow though that does sum up how I feel at times right now. I had a really dull head Monday morning and couldn't think straight. I tried to get some work done but I may as well have been reading Chinese for all the impression it was making on me. I headed to my pantry and dragged out the betony tea, some hemp tea and a mix of marjoram, mint and bergamot. Hopefully something out of that lot would settle my brain. I sat and let the steam from the teacup waft up my nose and sipped the warm brew. Something worked as my head cleared and after lunch I got some work done. 

My waterlilly trapped in the ice

A winter wonderland

I was doing okay with this adulting lark until I got an unhelpful email from the company that I had bought my computer from. Instead of telling me what options I had in response to my question, it just said they couldn't tell me without a diagnosis. Great but this is 2020 and there is a pandemic on, you cannot just walk into a shop and get things done can you?!!! No of course not! It needs a form to be filled in and then they will contact you with some dates. So why not say that in the first email? While I am on a moan and not being very adult about it all, why does my new computer not have a nice protective metal surround to stop it being shut on something hard and wrecking the screen? Especially if it is that much of a delicate fairy. The whole point to buying an apple computer is that most of our computers have lasted a very long time, except for the ones that were recalled and they were fixed by the company and went on to work for quite a few years longer.

A foggy winter wonderland though. 

Full of little treasures. I love moss growing in trees

Our Christmas tree perhaps? 
Probably not, I think it might
be a bit big. I will collect one
either tomorrow or Christmas
Eve

Saturday had been going so well up until that point. A new computer that worked well, jars finally found a place after weeks of them sitting in crates in our living room, some nice little chats with the kids via messenger and WhatsApp. So relaxing to potter about and get things sorted. After the disaster it was a good job there were more pottering about jobs to do on the Sunday as I hardly wanted to touch a computer after that. The new computer sort of still works and I could back up everything that had been done in the last week - that had been the next thing on my list before the disaster. I would have been okay without doing that as I had uploaded all the work that needed doing on the Friday, but still it was nice to be able to do it. The rest of the day I sorted out shelves to make more room in the dump room so I could walk down it without nearly killing myself. My aim is to be able to get to my craft stuff and know where it is, so that next year I can be more creative. 

"Look up!" my friend you used to say in Colorado.
But there the sky would be blue here the monchrome
effects of winter trees against the grey sky has a
charm of its own

Snowy patterns on a neighbour's field

Well that's the plan, but there is one more thing to do before I might have space to do that and that is to learn Latvian. I'm going to try Zoom lessons with a language school in Riga. Not cheap but at least they have experience and if I apply myself, hopefully it won't take that long to get the necessary fluency I need. At least that should reduce some of the stress of the times, especially as a Brit abroad in Europe

The next group of pictures are from the walk that Ian went on today, accompanied by his loyal companions....the cats. 

Rocket Ron and Ginger Tom

Investigating the destruction left by a visiting
wild boar family.

Eww! What is this? It's wet!

I'm really not sure what all this white stuff is about, 
not sure I'm a fan.

Ian's trusty companions

Damp chilly days = ice sculptures

I don't know what all the fuss is about. The white
stuff is not that bad. As they say, there is no such
thing as bad weather, just bad clothes. 

Not sure that Mari agrees, despite having a very nice
dense fleece to keep her warm.

Silla looking portly. A tad too much weight? A lot
of fleece? Pregnant? Or all three?

Antonia also proving that there's no such thing as
bad weather, just bad clothes.

What do you think you're doing here little one
says Silla. This group of alpacas don't chase
the cats, just investigate them.

Hmmmph! No such thing as bad weather they say!
Not sure about that!

A new chicken ark. It has a metal roof, which will
be lighter. The handles are closer together too
to make it easier to lift and the final detail is
very small holed chicken wire to keep the critters
out.

As this is the last blog before Christmas it just leaves me with one further thing to say. As most of us are in lockdown of one sort or another, I wish you a very Peaceful Christmas and may the New Year bring the joy and celebration that many of us are missing from this strange year.